The many faces of the professional nurse
The title of Nurse has many applications in modern medicine. Each specific type of nurse has a different set of responsibilities: Registered nurses (RNs), Nurse Practitioners, head nurses or nurse supervisors, Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs), nursing home nurses, Home Health Nurses, and nursing aides. While there are many shared tasks, these nursing professions require special skills and different levels of patient interactions. We've compiled the many nursing job descriptions below:
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Registered
Nurse job description (RN)
Registered Nurses (RNs) comprise the largest group of healthcare workers. To become an RN, students must learn what it takes to work directly with patients and their families. They are the primary point of contact between the patient and the world of health care, both at the bedside and in out-patient settings. RNs perform frequent patient evaluations, including monitoring and tracking vital signs, performing procedures such as IV placement, phlebotomy, and administering medications. Because the RN is much more regular contact with patients than are physicians, the RN is usually first to notice problems or raise concerns about patient progress.
RN job descriptions also include developing the day-to-day nursing care plans both in the hospital and for care after discharge, to be administered by families and visiting nurses.
While there is a national component to RN training (culminating in the NCLEX licensing exam), state laws determine the formal responsibilities of the RN. Nonetheless, because of the relatively broad nursing job description for RNs, the particular work enivironment determines what the daily routine is.
Nurse Practitioners job description
Nurse Practitioners are primary caregivers. Several critics of the current U.S. healthcare system would argue that the system needs many more Nurse